LOOKOUTS

Canon EOS Rebel XS, Canon 50mm 1.8 II lens, ISO 400, f/2.8, 1/200 second

  Dotted along the mountainside on the Grotto Falls Trail are several types of wildflowers. One in particular is Trillium. I have been wanting to photograph Trillium ever since I saw Richard Bernabe's Trillium Cascades image from the Smokies. If you read his ebook THE GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS-BEHIND THE LENS, he gives you an interesting background into the photograph.
  Trillium start blooming in early April and it being the 2nd, they had just started. Even though the ground wasn't covered with Trillium, there were several scattered around and I just couldn't turn down the opportunity to photograph them.
  They are very beautiful flowers and are one of the featured wildflowers in the Great Smoky Mountains in altitudes of 1000-3300 feet. Trillium are easily spotted by the 3 pronged white flowering petals with 3 green stems just behind and then blanketed by the 3 larger green leaves underneath. The white flowers will change to pink as they age later in the season as well.
  These two in the photo above looked like they were facing the opposite direction of each other like lookouts for the mountainside and the small white flowers below them.

Canon EOS Rebel XS, Canon 50mm 1.8 lens, ISO 200, f/4, 1/80 second